Yossi Benayoun keeps Liverpool on top

LIVERPOOL 2
MANCHESTER CITY 2

Yossi Benayoun sealed his recovery from a hamstring injury to keep Liverpool on top []

IT WAS heartbreak time for Ireland again asManchester City missed out on the chance to rock the establishment.

While the Emerald Isle were lamenting their World Cup luck in Paris in midweek, City midfielder Stephen Ireland was left shattered after seemingly delivering three points for Mark Hughes’ side.

Within a minute the joy had turned to despair as one of the growing band of horse placenta men, Yossi Benayoun, sealed his remarkable recovery from a hamstring injury to keep the finishing post for a top four finish in sight for Liverpool.

The Israeli international, originally expected to be out for a month, popped over to visit Sarajevo-based therapist Mariana Kovacevic and he was back in action within a fortnight. And that cost City, who have now drawn six consecutive games, equalling an unwanted club record.

Hughes admitted: “We should have seen the game out. There are a lot of disappointed players in our dressing room. That shows us how far we’ve come in a short time. I thought we were the better team but we were unable to defend a ball that was bobbling in our box. The introduction of Carlos Tevez made a difference. He gave us more energy.”

Never mind all the talk about horse placentas, this seemed more a case of both sides having seemingly being fed raw horse meat. Forget any finesse. This was all about scrapping, footballing alley cats sticking their claws into one another.

When the dust on this unofficial fourth place decider had settled you wondered what damage the pair had done to each other. Liverpool move onto Tuesday night’s Champions League trip to Debrecen having won just one of their last 10 games but manager Rafa Benitez insisted: “Although you can’t be happy with a draw at home when you lose Glen Johnson in the morning and Daniel Agger and Ryan Babel early in the game, it shows character to achieve what we did.

“At the end we were pushing for a win and you can’t ask any more of the players. With our injured players coming back I’m sure we’ll start winning games in a row.” The opening had resembled an episode of ‘Casualty’ as the fallen were swiftly removed. Unluckily for Benitez, already stripped of some of his big guns, most notably Fernando Torres, the victims were all his.

Agger was carried off with a head wound which needed fi ve stitches following a collision with Kolo Toure while Babel limped on for just six minutes before surrendering to Nigel de Jong’s crunching interception. Given, afforded a rousing reception by The Kop in recognition of his midweek heartbreak with the Republic of Ireland, shattered their ambitions of an early breakthrough with a typical reaction save to somehow keep out Martin Skrtel’s close-range header.

But the Slovakian was not to be denied his first all-important Liverpool goal. City had barely come to terms with losing influential skipper Toure, who didn’t reappear after the break, before they found themselves a goal down. A needless foul by Pablo Zabaleta on David N’gog set up Steven Gerrard for a free-kick, which was swept into the box with pace and precision.

City were left floundering as Skrtel nipped in ahead of the sleep-walking Emmanuel Adebayor to finally open his Liverpool goal account. At last City, who had been so negative, stirred themselves. Tevez was released from the subs’ bench and Hughes’ side stepped up the tempo.

They were rewarded in the 69th minute in a dramatic role reversal involving Adebayor and Skrtel. Craig Bellamy’s corner exposed Liverpool’s zonal marking system. Adebayor was left completely unmarked, courtesy of Skrtel’s indecision, and the former Arsenal striker headed past Pepe Reina for his fifth goal of the season.

City could now scent blood and it appeared they were in for the kill when Stephen Ireland made it 2-1 seven minutes later. Tevez and Shaun Wright-Phillips linked intelligently and Ireland took advantage with a crisp finish. Within a minute disaster struck City.

They failed to clear inside their own box and N’gog’s cross was deflected into Benayoun’s path, the midfielder doing the rest. And there was even a chance for Lucas to win it for Liverpool with a header late in added time.